AKS Quarterly Newsletter

"The Punchline Editorial"
March 2018

Well here we are in March of 2018.  As they say, "Time flies when you're having fun."

Already on the agenda is our Spring Seminar in Toledo, Ohio.  The date is Saturday April 28th.  Check the AKS FaceBook event page for more information.

On Saturday, the 28th of July, our annual Summer Camp will be held here in Muskegon Michigan.  Look also to the AKS FaceBook event page for that information.

So that means the year is off to a good start and we have something to look forward to.  Also, if you're in the West Michigan area, there are several Tournaments that have been announced.  Now while I have retired from most tournament activities, I recommend participation for anyone in our style that has not yet given them a try.  There are several reasons to compete.

First: From a training aspect, while tournament competition is not like a real fight, there is some aspect to it that will give you real-life experience that could be used in actual self-defense; such as mental and physical preparation.   Competing against opponents of similar size and ability can be somewhat scary.  So you as a competitor must learn to control those emotions.  Even when competing in Forms, you must learn to keep control of yourself.  Picture yourself standing in front of 5 judges, all the other competitors in your division, along with a crowded gymnasium watching you perform.  Let's just say you should be well practiced and also have the ability to keep yourself calm.

Second: In sparring competition, you will have opponents that will attack at full speed with only one thing on their minds, winning.  Since the invention of sparring gear, most tournaments allow a certain amount of contact.  While most competitors in this type of competition aren't out to knock you out, they still come at you with a certain amount of force; something that you have to be ready for.  As a student of self-defense, you can only learn to deal with this in the controlled tournament atmosphere.  Just practicing self-defense in the classroom is helpful, free sparring in class is helpful, but only in a tournament situation will you find yourself feeling the same emotions that you might face in an actual confrontation.

Third: Enjoying a win but learning to lose.  Winning can be great fun, and the opposite "losing" really sucks.  As a competitor and coach over the years, I have noticed several phenomena.  Students who lost their first match and quit competing.  Students who won several matches and quit competing.  Students who lost several matches but didn't quit.

In the first instance, the student hated losing so much he/she just didn't want to participate.  Surprisingly in the second instance, the student found winning to be easy and decided to move on to something else.  In the third instance, the student, while not winning, found the experience of competition rewarding and fun.  Once this type of student trained enough, they figured out how to win.  Now not all the time, but enough to keep it challenging.

So while losing sucks, it also prepares you for all the other life experiences that are like losing.  Getting fired from a job, or demoted.  Having an illness that drags you down.  Breaking up with a boyfriend/girlfriend.  The loss of a loved one.  Life is full of ups and downs.  If you look back at some of our greatest athletes and leaders, it is amazing how many had losses that should have shut them down.  The thing that kept them going is they learned how to accept a loss and did not quit.

 Lastly, as everything I just mentioned is important, learning to have fun at any type of competition is probably the most important.  People complain about the judging and pretty much blame everybody and everything for their loss; except their own training and attitude.  If you train hard and compete with an optimistic attitude, losing somehow becomes less important.  Really try and meet the people your competing against, and don't take everything so seriously.  You'll come away with more friends in the martial arts and most likely enjoy your day of competition.

Once I had a Black Belt friend ask me how I get the confidence to be a Black Belt.  I think that anyone that works toward the goal has to ask that question.  For me, it was train hard and go to a lot of tournaments.  Each win or loss taught me something about myself.  Meeting many sincere martial artists and finding out that we were all in the same boat, more or less.  We all suffered the same anxieties.  Competition lead me to look inward and work on what I perceived as a fault.  Even though I no longer compete, I'm still working on myself.

So good luck to you who compete!

Lessons In Life

by Dave Thomas 8th Dan

Last week I gave away yet another copy of Zen in the Martial Arts, I think this may make twelve.  Surprisingly, most of the recipients have never worn a gi, but were looking for guidance or inspiration.

I have referenced this book before, the author, Joe Hyams, trained with Bruce Lee, Ed Parker, Bong Soo Han and other respected martial artists.  He has taken the lessons they taught him and compiled a book of 28 brief chapters that speak to almost every element of the martial arts.  The lessons transcend the martial arts and can be used in our every day lives.

Here are some selected summaries from several chapters.

Process Not Product - Master Bong Soo Han - "You will never learn to do any endeavor properly unless you give yourself time.  We are not talking about patience; to be patient is to have the capacity for calm endurance.  Give yourself time to actively work toward a goal without setting a limit on how long you will work."  The development of good skills is a process not a product.

Conquer Haste - Master Bong Soo Han - Speaking of self-control - "Those who are patient in trivial things in life and control themselves, will one day have the same mastery in great and important things."

Active Inactivity - Bronislaw Kaper (friend of Joe Hyams) - "In our lives today, we don't leave time to nothing.   Compare doing nothing to a pause in music.  A pause is not a lack of music, but an integral part of the composition."   Bruce Lee said, "That pause is one of my secrets.  When I attack, I always try to pause - stop action - to study my opponent and his reactions before going into action again."

Anger Without Action - Jim Lau, Wing Chun Instructor - "It is not bad to have hostile or aggressive thoughts.  What is bad is letting them dictate your nature.  When you unleash your aggression or hostility on another person, it inspires aggression and hostility in return.  Anger does not demand action.  When you act in anger you lose self-control."

Mushin - Bruce Lee - "Mushin is when you act with unconscious awareness.  When you throw a ball at me, my hands go up and catch.  When you throw a punch at me, I intercept and hit you back.  Mushin is operating when the actor is separate from the act and no thoughts interfere with the actions.  It comes from practice and more practice, until you can do something without conscious effort."

Focus - Bruce Lee - Explaining the power of his one inch punch.  "To generate great power you must totally relax and gather your strength.  Then concentrate your mind and all your strength to hitting your target."

Winning by Losing - Ed Parker - "The only reason men fight is because they are insecure; one man needs to prove that he is better is stronger than another.  The man who is secure within himself has no need to prove anything with force.  He can walk away from a fight with dignity and pride.  He is a true martial artist - a man so strong inside that he has no need to demonstrate his power."

Why I Hate to Write Articles for the Punchline

E. Jude Gore

I was going to title this article, "I Love Reading the Punchline and Always Look Forward to Its Arrival and Would Love to Contribute Articles, But I Die a Thousand Deaths When I Try to Write."  However, since that seemed a "little" long and wordy, I decided to change it.  Before I expand on my writing inabilities, I need to mention how important the Punchline is to the AKS.  I am always amazed at the great work that Laura Werner does.  I don't know how we could get along without her.  A thousand Thank You's would not adequately show my appreciation for what you contribute.  HOWEVER, when I receive your email calling for an article for the Punchline every three months, my poor bald head begins to sweat, and my fingers begin to tremble.  It's not that I don't want to, but I know what lies ahead when I try to write.

My first hurdle is Grammar and the English language.  I think it started when I first went to school.  The teacher wrote the word "big" on the chalk board.  Of course, I raised my hand and said, "that word is little, it only has three letters."  The teacher then wrote the word "little" on the board and replied, "this is the word little."  Well in my mind the word little is "twice as big as big."  It has been downhill in the spelling department for me ever since.  My grammar is not any better than my spelling to make matters worse, or is it worser, or maybe badder?  The first time I visited Germany, I tried to learn a little German before my trip.  While I was there, Heinrich Reimer was trying to help me with it.  I remember saying to him, "Next time I visit, my German will be as good as my English."  He looked at me, and without hesitating said, "that bad?"  No truer words were ever spoken.  You need to understand that English is a second language to me.  My native language is one that nobody understands, not even myself when I see it in writing.   I have this bad habit of making up words.  Well after a while, I start believing they really are words.  At least they sound very cool to me.

I have always had this problem.  Years ago, when new writing programs came out for computers that had spelling and grammar checkers I thought my problem was solved.  Wrong!  I discovered I couldn't get through a single sentence without errors.  I finally gave up on that when the grammar checking replaced its suggestion with "You've got to be kidding?"  I then started relying on my oldest son, Jude.  He was in seventh grade at the time.  His English and spelling were superb, and he could type three time faster than me, so I would ask him to correct my articles.  After he went off to college, it became the task of my second son, Joseph, to correct my papers.  Joseph was in fifth grade when he started helping me (not kidding), but he, like his brother, has superior writing skills.  I still have these vivid memories of my wife and kids sitting at the computer, checking my articles and breaking out in laughter.  I have this habit of leaving out words when I write.  Of course, that can, and most often does, completely change the meaning of a sentence; many times to something that would be very embarrassing if someone read it.  I have this problem when I speak two, to, I mean also. I will be speaking about one thing and then jump to a subject I was speaking about earlier. I even do it in the middle of sentences at times.  It drives my wife crazy.  I justify it my saying that my mind works so fast and can multitask so well that it is hard for me to verbally keep up.  Well, the truth is I am more like the dogs in the movie "Up" when the word "Squirrel" is heard.   (Just a note, I didn't realize how hard it was to try and find out how to spell the word squirrel.)

Now I have the problem of, "What do I write about?"   Well, I do my best thinking and come up with some of my best ideas while taking a shower, so . . .  Let me tell you that didn't work!  First of all, sitting in the shower with my clothes on and typing on a laptop just didn't feel right, so I tried it in my birthday suit.  I truly apologize for any visualization you may have at this time.  Nope, just didn't feel right without that warm water spraying on me.  FYI, did you realize that iPads and laptops are not waterproof?  Well, one laptop and iPad later, it is a fact they are not waterproof!  My next idea was to ask my wife, Sandy, to type my thoughts (on my new laptop) while I was taking a shower.  When I asked her she said, "Now just how am I supposed to do that?"  I said, "There is a seat in the bathroom."  She said, "You mean the toilet seat?"  She looked at me, rolled her eyes and said, "You're out of your mind!"  I said, "Why, you can put the seat down."  Needless to say, I had to flush that idea down the drain.  Well my last resort was to take part of a shower . . . like, just wash my face, and then run to the computer and type a sentence, then run back in the shower wash an arm, then run to the computer and type another sentence.  Well that didn't work out so well either.  If I would stop to dry off, I had forgotten what I was going to type by the time I made it to the computer.  Not to mention that the air is cold between the shower and the computer.  Then to top it off, I would run out of hot water by the end of the first paragraph.  (I probably should have mentioned that you may need counseling if you happened to visualize any of the previous paragraph.)

So you see, it's not that I don't want to write articles for the Punchline, I do . . . and I believe that everyone should think about contributing.  It may be hard for you as well, but remember that the AKS is like family and they will forgive your writing skills (I hope so for my sake).  I plan to find a waterproof laptop before the next Punchline and buy a much bigger hot water tank.  But for now, I sadly have run out of hot water! (But not hot air ). (The views of the author are his own.  Any resemblance to an intelligent person, living or dead is completely coincidental.)

Following are the current quarterly promotions for each club.

Congratulations to all students who have been promoted this past quarter, and to those we've missed in prior newsletters.

Best wishes in your continued training!

Attention Instructors, if you have students who have been promoted, please send this information so that we may acknowledge their accomplishments.

A.K.S. News

2018 Spring Seminar

The date for the AKS Spring Seminar has been confirmed for April 28, 2018 in Toledo, Ohio.  The schedule, location, times and fees will be announced as they become available.

2018 AKS Summer Camp

Due to unforeseen conflicts, the date of our annual AKS Summer Camp in Muskegon, MI has been moved to the weekend of July 28, 2018.  Please take note so that you may adjust your schedules and calendar accordingly.  We apologize for the change, but it could not be helped, so we are trying to get this information out to you as early as possible.

Tournament News

No tournament news to report.  However, congratulations to all who may have competed this past quarter.  Keep up the great work!

Bylaws

The Bylaws were revised and updated as of December 18, 2017.  The Executive Board would like to thank all of you who voted and made suggestions.  Several very good ideas and suggestions were made, and we will be sending out shortly a couple of small revisions and clarifications for the AKS Black Belts to vote on.  The Bylaws were revised to reflect the role of the Executive Board as developed by Mike, Fred and Dave.  Their ideas of the Executive Board was to give members more input into the running of the AKS and to develop a system so that decisions can be made in a timelier manner while giving Black Belts more input.  It is through the AKS Board members that your thoughts and ideas will be presented for consideration.  Please contact any of the board members if you need assistance or have an idea that you think will be beneficial to the development and growth of the AKS.

AKS Executive Board Members:

• Fred Reinecke  far.photo.fred@gmail.com
• John Folsom  (304) 782-3756
• Debra Roy
• Andrew Eckhart  aeckhart77@gmail.com
• Kristyn Reinecke
• Jude Gore  jgore@citynet.net

AKS Executive Board Advisor:

• Mike Sullenger  kick2aks@yahoo.com

Rules, Regulations and Requirements

The Bylaws now only pertain to the running of the AKS.  Most of the rules, regulations and requirements have been moved to a separate document.  This spring, the Executive Board will be looking over these to see where we can make improvements or make updates that are more sutable for us now.  We welcome all of you to present ideas and suggestions you may have that would benefit the AKS.  We are open to all suggestions and will approach all of them with open minds.  Please include how you believe your ideas would be of benefit.

Recognitions

Please take a moment to view our website and visit the A.K.S. Recognitions page.   We are proud of all of our A.K.S. members who have been honored and recognized for their accomplishments and dedication to the American Karate System.  It is only fitting that we honor them and thank them for their dedication and service to our organization.   Ernie would be proud!

2018 Black Belt Membership Dues

It is now March and unpaid Black Belt and School Fees are currently overdue. Please make your check payable to “AKS” and mail to:

Dave Thomas
3871 Highgate
Muskegon, MI 49441

If you are experiencing financial difficulties, please contact Dave. We are more than willing to work with you.

All membership dues for 2018 are due by the end of February 2018.  Please contact your instructor for the forms when you register.  Or you may fill out the appropriate forms found at the bottom of the Calendar of Events page.

If you are having a problem downloading the forms, please let me know and I will email them to you.

Click here to request Membership forms:  AKS Webmaster

Do You Have Member News ?

Please send news (weddings, births, graduations, etc.) so that we may share with our members and friends.  Accompanying pictures are most welcome!

Please send your information to Laura Werner.  We look forward to hearing from you !

AKS STORE - CLICK HERE!

Spring is in the air!   You can find the perfect jacket, shirt, hat to get you into spring with style.

We have jackets, fleece, wind breakers, vests, shirts, sweatshirts, caps and more.  There is also an embroidery service to have the AKS Logo / your name embroidered on your item.  The perfect solution.

We would like to thank all those who have purchased AKS apparel through our on-line store.   The AKS receives a portion of the purchase price on every item sold.  We are a non-profit organization.  Thank you for your continued support.

AKS STORE - CLICK HERE!

We are happy to announce we have upgraded the software to include FedEx online shipping rate calculation for International Sales.  This makes it possible for us to take orders and ship to International customers.

Our "Official" web address is:  www.aks-usa.com

You can also use:   www.aks-usa.org  and  www.aks-usa.net  which will direct you to our website as well.

You can type in    www.aks-usa.info   and you will be taken directly to our "About Us" web page.  Please check us out!!